Love Sees No Borders - Press Release

Love Sees No Borders Hails Sen. Leahy’s Introduction of Immigration Bill
We Acknowledge HRC’s Valiant Efforts in Finding Senate Sponsor for LGBT Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 31 , 2003 - Love Sees No Borders, an educational organization focused on raising awareness of the plight of same-sex binational couples and their fight to remain together, today hailed the introduction of the Permanent Partners Immigration Act (PPIA), in the U.S. Senate. This vital immigration bill for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and includes
Senators Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, and Russell Feingold of Wisconsin as original co-sponsors. We salute the Human Rights Campaign in their successful work with Sen. Leahy’s Office.

"For the past three years our work has been limited to working with Congress members fully knowing that any success would be limited in scope because we lacked a companion bill in the Senate,” said Leslie Bulbuk, co-founder of Love Sees No Borders. "The introduction of this bill in the Senate will enable immigration activists to take our fight forward and bring equality and justice to same-sex couples in the area of immigration. We thank John Vezina and the Human Rights Campaign for making this possible."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) originally introduced the PPIA in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, and it currently has 115 co-sponsors. The bill introduced by Sen. Leahy contains similar language as the House version. The bill would require for the words “or permanent partner” to be added to the Immigration and Nationality Act every time the word “spouse” appears. In addition, the bill defines a permanent partner as any person 18 or older who is:

(a) in a committed, intimate relationship with another adult 18 or older in which both parties intend a lifelong commitment;
(b) financially interdependent with that other person;
(c) not married to, or in a permanent partnership with, anyone other than that other person; and
(d) unable to contract with that person a marriage cognizable under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

About Love Sees No Borders
Love Sees No Borders is an organization dedicated to promoting awareness of the plight of same-sex binational couples in the United States. Our work includes media outreach, public speaking and other educational activities. For more information about the organization and how to support our efforts through a donation, please visit www.loveseesnoborders.org.